The San Diego Padres' ongoing quest for a World Series (or at least a playoff title). "You know that many runners enter a race, but only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

These Boys Are For Real

What an exciting game. What an exciting series. What an exciting homestand. What an exciting season!

If anyone still doesn’t believe in this team, I don’t know if they ever will. If you don’t believe in this team now, I don’t see how they can do anything less of winning the World Series to get you to say that hey, these guys are for real.

I know that as San Diegians, we’ve been let down time and time before. I understand your hesitation to be quick to jump on the bandwagon. But it’s safe. Trust me. I’ve been on the bandwagon for a long time and we’ve yet to get stuck in the mud. How can you watch this team and have any doubts that they’re for real?

Yesterday’s game was beautiful. First of all, you’ve got a pitching matchup between Clayton Richard and Johan Santana. It was quite the pitcher’s duel. Santana went seven innings, allowing nothing but five hits and five walks. Richard, on the other hand, did allow a run but only four hits and four walks.

That was basically the story, all the way until the bottom of the ninth. You know, it might have seemed like the Padres weren’t going to do anything the whole game, but they don’t just give up then. If you start giving up, hang around just a little bit longer. Maybe they’ll surprise you.

In the bottom of the ninth, with two out and a two-strike count, David Eckstein drove in the tying run. See? Told ya they’d surprise you.

The game went into the extra innings. Both bullpens were solid. Then we got to the bottom of the 11th, which was the big inning of this game.

Tony Gwynn led off with a double. Jon Garland, pinch-hitting, got a bunt down that got Tony out at third. Garland to first.

Jerry Hairston singled, and then Eck got hit-by-pitch to load the bases. That brought up Adrian Gonzalez.

Adrian’s really been heating up over the past week or so. Before that at-bat in the 11th, he had two singles and a triple.

Adrian took a ball, a strike, and a grand slam. Yep, he just sent that ball out to left to win the game, 5-1. It was SOOOO COOL!!!!

What made it even more cool was that we got TWO grand slams in one series. That is just too sweet.

I am so glad that we won this series. I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to the pitching match-up tomorrow: Mat Latos vs. Roy Halladay. It’s going to be so good.

I just have to say a few things about the horrible call by Jim Joyce last night in Armando Galarraga’s almost perfect game. Obviously, it was one of the most terrible calls we’ve had in a long time. The guy completely ruined the highlight of Galarraga’s career. But you see how incredibly remorseful he is about it. He knows. He knows that the guy was out. And he is deeply, deeply sorry about it. I bet he didn’t sleep at all last night, and it looks like he’s been crying for all that time. Sure, it was a terrible call, but there’s nothing he or anyone else can do about it. What Joyce really needs right now is not haters but forgivers. Think about it.

The Latest Leaders list on MLBlogs for the month of May is out, and I’m #11!! Thank you guys sooo much for your readership and support. I could not do it without you. Thank you!!

Jump on the bandwagon, people. These boys are for real. Nothing’s going to stop them.

11 Comments

No jumping on no bandwagon Kaybee. I bleed Dodger Blue but congrats on your boys doing well and your ranking! My boys are right behind you staying very close. I love tight races but still is early.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

Now you and everyone in baseball knows that the Phillies offense is on vacation somewhere, I just want to advance notify you that if they return during this weekend, it’s nt my fault… and if they don’t, you could at least ask your guys to go easy on us… :-)
welcome Philadelphia for the weekend….

Cardinal fan here, I was in San Diego last week for a couple of games and I can’t help but wonder, where are all your fans? You’ve been in first place awhile you would think more would have jumped on the bandwagon a month ago. Even aside from that though, weather is beautiful there, you have a big city, is fan support really that weak? Your pitching is awesome! I’ve been trying to find Padre fans who can explain why but I don’t understand. It’s not 2009 anymore. I heard you average about 20K a game. Have you sold out any games this year? Congratulations on taking the series from us & leading your division.

Cardinal fan here, I was just in San Diego last week for the series against us, you guys have awesome pitching but where are the fans? I haven’t been able to find a Padre fan who has been able to explain this to me, why so few fans when you have such great weather and a large population. They said you are only averaging 20,000 a game? But you’ve been in first place for several weeks now. It isn’t 2009 anymore. And your new ownership seems to want to prove it can win. Why’s the fan support so bad there? Have you sold out any games this year? Congratulations on taking the series from us and on first place in your division.

Padres are playing really well, and I think they’re for real, but the Padres need one more power hitter to really put them over the top. Corey Hart is a possibility, and i think he’d be a good fit in San Diego. GO PADRES!!!http://adriangonzalez23.mlblogs.com

I agree, we need a big bat! Who doesn’t agree. People have been saying this for years now. The thing is we need to make sure it’s someone who can hit with power in Petco. To stlheat, the Cardinal fan, we have sold out at least 3 games this year, they were all against the Dodgers. I know Opening Day wasn’t a sellout at first but I think it may have sold out via walk ups. But the Dodger games mostly sold out because half of Petco Park was full of their fans. I can’t answer why fans are so slow to come back when the team is winning so much. Sure it’s true, we’ve lost 2 games on the road now, but we’ve been winning at home a lot. I know your question was directed to Kaybee, not me. I’ll let her say if she has any other theories.

Thanks so much for the comments guys!! Stlheat, I don’t think we have many fans at the ballpark because, for some reason, most of the fans still aren’t sure about this team. The past few years the Padres have not been good, and as San Diegians, we’ve had to deal with a lot of disappointment from our sports fans. I think they’re afraid that the Padres will let them down. I don’t blame anyone for being wary, ’cause this does seem to be too good to be true. But the boys have been winning very consistently, our pitching is solid, we get enough runs, and we’ve been on top of the NL West for a long time. I don’t have a definite explanation, but I think that people are being very careful to see if these guys are really for real. If the Padres keep winning like this, I think we’ll start to have decent numbers as the season goes on. Personally, the boys have shown me that they can and will win. Sure, there’s going to be some glitches like the two games we lost over the weekend, because no team can be perfect for all 162 games. But I think the Padres are going to keep winning, keep holding that lead, and maybe even go to the playoffs. I think the fans will jump the bandwagon…eventually.

You know, Kaybee, I do appreciate your comments but I disagree strongly. It is not okay to rely on “bandwagoners” because bandwagoners are the weakest fans of all. I was there in 1998 and the bandwagons all jumped on, then the Padres went down in ’99 and they all jumped off. Waiting to see how long a team is good, just to start going to games, is very weak. All around the league there are teams that had much worse starts than ours did, and their teams’ fans didn’t wait around, they showed up from day 1. Now I will agree all around the Majors, because of the economy, the attendance is down a bit. But not to 15K a game in most places. Our city is I believe 7th ranked in population in the country. It takes playing the Dodgers and the Cubs and having their fans come in to pack the park to sell out? That’s just sad. Other teams’ fans will travel from all over the country to Petco. Our fans won’t even come from San Diego. It must be disheartening for our players to see the empty stands or worse, to hear the visiting fans make it sound like it’s their home and not ours. I will go on record that I admire fans who come from afar when their team is not even in 1st place. I gotta respect that and wish our fans would do the same. Being a fan is not about winning or losing, it’s about supporting your team whether they are in first or last place. It’s about loyalty and showing up no matter what. Truthfully, I think a lot of San Diegans are weak in the excuses they use. It doesn’t help our reputation nationwide. We complain we don’t get enough national media attention. Why should they pay attention when the impression that’s given, with all the empty seats, is that we don’t care, ourselves? The Padres have done a lot of things, lowered ticket prices in a lot of areas, etc., they understand the economy is bad. They must really be flustered.

You are dead right on, padres2050. I agree completely. I still don’t know why we’re not getting out there, but whatever excuses we use are very lame. Forgive me, I wasn’t thinking about the fact that it shouldn’t matter whether the team is winning or losing. But the fact that we are winning should have the fans out here…I really don’t know, but you make some excellent points. I’ve only been a Padres fan for about four season, so I don’t really have experience, but do you think that the fan base was never really developed in the first place? Like maybe the Padres weren’t that big of a thing for San Diego 40 years ago and they’ve never really caught on? Or maybe the front office didn’t try to develop the fan base as well as Jeff Moorad seems to be doing? Well anyways I agree with you 100%. If you’re a true fan of this team you support them no matter what.

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